The 1983 Belgian Grand Prix was a Formula One motor race held at Spa-Francorchamps on 22 May 1983. It was the first Belgian Grand Prix to be held at Spa since 1970 and the first on the modern Spa circuit, and was also the sixth race of the 1983 FIA Formula One World Championship.
The 40-lap race was won from pole position by Alain Prost, driving a factory Renault. Patrick Tambay finished second in a Ferrari, with Eddie Cheever third in the other Renault. The race marked the debut of local driver and future race winner Thierry Boutsen.
The first attempt to start the race was waved off. The field drove around the circuit and lined up again for the second attempt, which was successful.
Report
Race report Andrea de Cesaris jumped from third to first at the start, overtaking Alain Prost and Patrick Tambay, and de Cesaris began to build up a lead on Prost who faced pressure from the Ferraris behind him. After initially challenging Tambay for the last podium place, René Arnoux began to fall back and was caught by Nelson Piquet with Keke Rosberg following a short distance back in 6th. Piquet got a good exit out of La Source, and powered down the hill to overtake Arnoux before Eau Rouge, leaving him in the attention of the non-turbo powered Williams cars who don't get a chance to pass before Arnoux's turbo failed, putting an end to his race a few laps later. De Cesaris pitted from the lead, but it was a slow stop, over 25 seconds, and the second stint got going with Prost leading by almost 10 seconds. Prost's mechanics did a 14.4 second stop in an era when the record was around 13.
Meanwhile, Piquet and Tambay switched positions after their stops. Piquet's pit crew managing a 15.2 second stop, refueling included, for an overcut. De Cesaris's sluggish pit stop would come to be the prologue for his retirement when injection problems made him pull up on the side of the road on lap 25. Piquet inherited second place, with Tambay close on his trails, less than 3 seconds behind. Eddie Cheever who climbed his way from 8th emerged behind them eager to attack the podium positions. The last two points places were with the underpowered Williams cars who were running a lonely and quiet race at significant distance from each other and also from the rest of the field. In the latter stages Piquet lost 5th (highest) gear and went dramatically slower on the straights as his Brabham could not reach top speed. Tambay and Cheever swiftly profited from this, dropping the 1981 champion to fourth. From here on the first six places remain unchanged. Prost won and built a 4-point lead over Piquet in the championship.
Classification
Qualifying Pos No Driver Constructor Q1 Q2 Gap 1 15 Alain Prost Renault2:04.6152:34.212 — 2 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari2:04.6262:35.036 +0.011 3 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo2:04.840 26:06.800 +0.225 4 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW2:05.6283:01.465 +1.013 5 28 René Arnoux Ferrari2:05.7372:30.961 +1.122 6 6 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW2:06.137 3:01.358 +1.522 7 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW2:06.2642:44.663 +1.649 8 16 Eddie Cheever Renault2:07.2942:25.700 +2.679 9 1 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford2:07.9752:30.151 +3.360 10 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford2:08.5872:35.016 +3.972 11 2 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford2:09.1533:20.872 +4.538 12 23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo2:09.225 18:49.960 +4.610 13 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault2:09.3102:30.478 +4.695 14 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford2:09.3222:31.077 +4.707 15 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford2:09.4753:00.356 +4.860 16 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart2:09.7062:35.556 +5.091 17 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford2:09.7392:31.533 +5.124 18 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford2:09.8762:35.832 +5.261 19 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford2:09.924 no time +5.309 20 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford2:10.318 no time +5.703 21 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford2:11.3542:49.311 +6.739 22 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart2:11.4742:30.477 +6.859 23 4 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford2:11.6832:38.284 +7.068 24 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford2:11.7342:41.895 +7.119 25 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford2:11.8602:43.780 +7.245 26 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford2:12.3102:34.659 +7.695 27 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo2:13.738 no time +9.123 28 17 Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford2:18.696 no time +14.081Source:
Race Pos No Driver Constructor Tyre Laps Time/Retired Grid Points 1 15 Alain Prost Renault 40 1:27:11.502 1 9 2 27 Patrick Tambay Ferrari 40 + 23.182 2 6 3 16 Eddie Cheever Renault 40 + 39.869 8 4 4 5 Nelson Piquet Brabham-BMW 40 + 42.295 4 3 5 1 Keke Rosberg Williams-Ford 40 + 50.480 9 2 6 2 Jacques Laffite Williams-Ford 40 + 1:33.107 11 1 7 35 Derek Warwick Toleman-Hart 40 + 1:58.539 22 8 36 Bruno Giacomelli Toleman-Hart 40 + 2:38.273 16 9 11 Elio de Angelis Lotus-Renault 39 + 1 Lap 13 10 34 Johnny Cecotto Theodore-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 25 11 29 Marc Surer Arrows-Ford 39 + 1 lap 10 12 4 Danny Sullivan Tyrrell-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 23 13 26 Raul Boesel Ligier-Ford 39 + 1 Lap 26 14 3 Michele Alboreto Tyrrell-Ford 38 + 2 Laps 17 8 Niki Lauda McLaren-Ford 33 Gearbox 15 12 Nigel Mansell Lotus-Ford 30 Gearbox 19 22 Andrea de Cesaris Alfa Romeo 25 Injection 3 33 Roberto Guerrero Theodore-Ford 23 Engine 14 28 René Arnoux Ferrari 22 Engine 5 31 Corrado Fabi Osella-Ford 19 Wheel 24 9 Manfred Winkelhock ATS-BMW 18 WheelIn the downhill section, the rear right wheel came off, flying over the fence video 7 7 John Watson McLaren-Ford 8 Collision 20 25 Jean-Pierre Jarier Ligier-Ford 8 Collision 21 30 Thierry Boutsen Arrows-Ford 4 Suspension 18 23 Mauro Baldi Alfa Romeo 3 Throttle 12 6 Riccardo Patrese Brabham-BMW 0 Engine 6 32 Piercarlo Ghinzani Osella-Alfa Romeo 17 Eliseo Salazar RAM-Ford Source:
Championship standings after the race
Drivers' Championship standings Pos Driver Points 1 Alain Prost 28 2 Nelson Piquet 24 3 Patrick Tambay 23 4 Keke Rosberg 16 5 John Watson 11Source:
Constructors' Championship standings Pos Constructor Points 1 Renault 36 2 Ferrari 31 3 Brabham-BMW 24 4 Williams-Ford 24 5 McLaren-Ford 21Source:
Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.
References